Council President Landon Cusimano, an at-large representative, suggested delaying the vote scheduled for Tuesday because the proposed ordinance lacks language explicitly restricting businesses from dispensing alcohol in loosely sealed containers.

The council agreed to his suggestion, 8-1. Its lone opponent, District D representative Joe Fraught, meant to support Cusimano's suggestion, but he inadvertently cast a dissenting vote on the council's complex voting machine. He did not correct the mistake, he said, because the postponement passed without his vote.

Officials on Tuesday had not determined when to re-visit the issue.

Since 1966, "drive-up windows and/or drive-through buildings (have been) prohibited for any commercial establishment selling and/or dealing in alcoholic beverages" within city limits, according to Slidell's Code of Ordinances.

Businesses -- mostly daiquiri stands -- in parishes and municipalities across the state have been able to sell alcohol in that manner, even in unincorporated areas adjacent to Slidell, because a frozen daiquiri does not qualify as an illegal open container under state law until a straw has been inserted or part of its contents have been removed.

Recently, representatives from two businesses met with Slidell leaders and asked them to consider lifting the ban.

Faye Wagner, who owns Daiquiris and Creams shops across St. Tammany Parish, proposed selling beverages to its customers through a drive-up window.

Meanwhile, a convenience store owner envisioned opening a drive-through stand where workers could dispense, among other things, beer, wine and liquor to customers.

Wagner's drive-up daiquiri shop would satisfy state open container laws by dispensing its drinks in a container resembling a milk jug. Employees would seal the jug with a peel-away tab and a plastic cap.

"We want to make it a convenience for the customers," Wagner said as she left the meeting Tuesday. "That's all."

Any alcohol bottles or cans sold at the drive-through mart would be sealed.

Cusimano in February introduced the ordinance legalizing drive-up alcohol sales in at the request of Mayor Freddy Drennan, who had previously predicted doing so would generate a boost for local establishments.

The mayor has also questioned the ban's effectiveness since it is legal for a motorist to park at a convenience store; walk in to purchase a six-pack of beer; and drive off.

But Cusimano said he and other council members were concerned about enacting an ordinance broadly legalizing businesses' opening drive-through windows in the city.

He wants to add clauses in the proposed statute that would force any future drive-through daiquiri shops to sell drinks in the sealed, capped jugs Wagner pitched, not with a top that a straw a could puncture.

He also wishes to prohibit walk-in bars and clubs from being able to sell drinks through a drive-through window, and he does not think drive-through convenience store clerks should be able to pour drinks like a bartender may.

"I don't want convenience stores to become like bars," Cusimano said Tuesday. "I don't want bars to become like daiquiri shops."